US VP John Kerry in Iraq to find solutions to ISIS offensive

The US Vice President John Kerry has reached Iraq Sunday to work on the ways to control the rising ISIS menace. The militants are steadily increasing their hold on the northern side of Baghdad. Most of the Anbar province is now under their hold. Entire Tal Afar town, Rutba, Qaim are currently in the hands of the ISIS militants.

Kerry, in the first this level visit by a US official after the Iraq war, will consult both Shia and Sunni leadership and will look at establishing a new leadership in place of the Nour al Maliki government which is “in line with the constitutional timeline that they’re on.”

Meanwhile, neighbor Iran’s top leadership, which is believed till today of working on organizing Iraq’s offensive against the Sunni militancy, spoke on the issue. Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled out any direct participation in the war and accused US of fomenting the unrest. “We strongly oppose the intervention of the U.S. and others in the domestic affairs of Iraq, The main dispute in Iraq is between those who want Iraq to join the U.S. camp and those who seek an independent Iraq. The U.S. aims to bring its own blind followers to power,” said Khamenei.

Within Iraq, US’s old enemy Mukhtada Al Sadr has come out in an attempt to seize the indecisiveness in leadership, and has given an open call to all Shia’s to gather and fight out the Sunni militants. Al Sadr was one of the formidable leaders that hurt US the most during the Iraq war. After Al Sadr’s call, more than 20 thousand Shia youth are said to have joined troops. This new Shia militia may present newer problems to the region in the future.

The increasingly difficult situation is turning the whole region into a hot bed for violence, as said by several observers.